Ancient Egyptian society treated men and women equally. Women participated in the political, economic, and judicial world of ancient Egypt on the same terms as men. This social system reflects Egyptian mythology, where Goddesses played an equal, if not chief, role. The primeval mother-figures in the earliest prehistoric Egyptian myths are female. Female deities were kept separate from the males, with their own temples and followers. Egyptian goddesses are also creator deities, and the protectors of the pharaohs in the form of the cobra, vulture, or linoness.

In ancient Egyptian mythology, Egypt was created from the Watery Waste of Nun, a chaos god from whose body all things were born. The continuous mission of the daily temple services and strictly followed religious codes was to keep ordered Egyptian society from returning to the state of chaos in which it was born. Ma'at, the goddess in charge of law, balance and order, was one of the principal deities. The two "protectors of the realm" of Egypt were originally Nekhbet, vulture goddess of Northern Egypt, and Wadjet, cobra goddess of Lower Egypt. The cobra and the vulture were chosen by the Egyptians as the royal symbols because they were thought to be self-producing and therefore creators, or divine.

Egyptian mythology is a complex collection of often competing stories, traditions, and practices. This is partly because the culture is so ancient, and partly because each city had its own set of deities, whose unique personalities are lost as their cults age. Just as each city vied for supreme power before Egypt was a unified kingdom, the cities each tried to establish their gods as the supreme gods. Even after unification, each time the capital moved, the supreme god of the new city rose to be the supreme god of the kingdom.

Below, a table listing some of the many gods and goddesses of Egyptian mythology. The deities are listed as closely as possible to the order of their appearance in the myths, from oldest to newest.

Nekhbet vulture goddess of Upper Egypt

Wadjet cobra goddess of Lower Egypt

Meskhenet childbirth goddess, represented by a tile  

Taweret hippopotamus goddess, also childbirth goddess and protectoress  

Bet childbirth god and protector of children

Atum Heliopolis (ancient On) sun god, self-created from the Watery Waste of Nun

Shu god of air, created by Atum

Tefnut goddess of moisture, created by Atum, sometimes a lion goddess

Geb earth god, created by Shu and Tefnut

Nut sky goddess, also goddess of death and burial, created by Shu and Tefnut

Osiris fertility god, later king of the dead, child of Geb and Nut

Isis Mistress of Magic and Speaker of Spells, also goddess of the dead, sister-wife of Osiris, child of Geb and Nut, mother of young Horus and therefore symbolic Mother of the Egyptian King

Seth rival of young Horus, destroyer of Osiris's body, child of Geb and Nut

Nephthys one of the goddesses of the dead, sister-wife of Seth and child of Geb and Nut

Horus the Elder often shown in man's form, or as a hawk, child of Geb and Nut

young Horus son of Isis

Hathor powerful sky and cow goddess, fertility figure, consort of young Horus but kept a separate temple, associated with tirual music

Thoth Hermopolis god, moon god and reckoner of time, depicted in human form with an ibis mask Neith national goddess of Lower Egypt, huntress with crossed bow and arrows as her symbol, also goddess of the dead, sometimes supreme creator

Serkhet a goddess of death and burial

Re sun god, in the creation myth with Neith as supreme god, wept men and women from his eyes Ptah Memphis god, considered primeval being first created to take precendence over Atum Sekhmet represents the rays of the sun at midday, consort of Ptah and daughter of Re, the sun god, lion goddess of Middle Egypt

Aton Aye at el-Armana tomb chapel, also claimed to take precedence over Atum

Khnum First Cataract deity, ram-headed supreme creator god

Satet and Anuket represent the Nile in flood, helpers to Khnum

Nun and Nunet Ogdoad of Khemenu gods (City of Eight), represent the primeval abyss

Heh and Hauket Ogdoad of Khemenu gods, represent infinity

Kek and Kauket Ogdoad of Khemenu gods, represent darkness

Amun and Amunet Ogdoad of Khemenu gods, represent the unknown gods, also male and female principles in the cosmic system, Amun later a chief god

Mut both lion and warrior goddess, consort of Amun at Thebes, replacing Amunet

Bastet cat goddess, important in the last 1000 years B, originally a lion goddess

Meretseger cobra goddess of the peak overlooking the Valley of the Kings, name means "she who loves silence"

Renenutet snake goddess and protector of the king and the harvest